Today, Spanish is the primary language of Ecuador, used as the official language in education, media, government, and business. It’s the native language of most Ecuadorians and generally learned as a second language by those who don’t speak it natively. But Ecuador, like the rest of Hispanic countries in Latin America, is not solely a Spanish-speaking nation. The diverse and vibrant heritage of the land, harkening back to a past prior to European colonization, is still reflected in the numerous indigenous languages spoken in Ecuador, such as Shuar.
You may not have heard of Shuar, but it’s a culturally and historically important language in Ecuador. With around 35,000 native speakers, it’s the second-biggest indigenous language in the South American country, with Kichwa squarely occupying the first place. Shuar is officially classified as a recognized minority language, along with the 13 other autochthonous languages spoken in the country, but unfortunately, Shuar remains endangered. As Spanish, with its prominence and prestige, increasingly takes over the nation, Shuar faces an uncertain future, aggravated by a lack of translation resources. Here at TranslationServices.com, we’d like to do what we can to support the Shuar language—so we’ve put together our own Shuar translation team.
Would you like to see a free quote for our Shuar translation services? Contact us today for a no-obligation quote!
Diving into Ecuador’s cultural history with Shuar
Shuar is one of the most prominent indigenous languages in Ecuador, spoken in pockets of the vast Amazon Rainforest in the east of Ecuador, specifically the provinces of Pastaza and Morona Santiago. In the past, the language was known as Chiwaro, Jibaro, Jivaro, or Xivaro, terms considered derogatory today. The Shuar people are noted for their involvement in Ecuadorian politics, giving the language more prestige than most other indigenous Ecuadorian tongues, and a radio-based language revitalization program has also helped the language thrive.
Shuar comes from the Chicham family, alternatively known as the Jivaroan family, not to be confused with the Chibchan family from the same general vicinity. Like many other Amerindian languages, Shuar features a complex grammatical profile with abundant inflection, including a tendency to repeat the same markers on multiple words in a sentence. Markers usually come in the form of suffixes rather than prefixes, with Shuar classified as a “heavily suffixing” language. Shuar generally uses a subject-object-verb word order, which is the most common word order globally.
Let our team handle all your Shuar translation needs.
If you need high-quality, reliable Shuar translation services, you’ve found them with us. Most translation agencies don’t cover Shuar at all, given that it’s an endangered minority language, but here at TranslationServices.com, we believe Shuar deserves great translation services just as much as Spanish does. Driven by this conviction, we scoured the Ecuadorian section of the Amazon Rainforest to locate the best translators in the Shuar-speaking world, and we’re bringing them to you with our brand-new Shuar translation team. Our translators, passionate about the indigenous language they’ve grown up speaking, have the skills to deliver quality translation work both to and from Shuar.
We’ve worked hard to make our Shuar translation team diverse—that means that not only do our translators hail from all across the Shuar-speaking region, representing the different dialects of the Amerindian tongue, but they’ve also amassed their experience working on all sorts of projects. We’re eager to help clients from Ecuador and beyond, whether they’re working in the corporate sector, the academic world, the literary scene, or something else, as our Shuar translation team contains translators with specialties in all these areas. Since some of our translators are experts in particular fields, we may even be able to handle Shuar translation projects that involve highly technical content—just let us know the field you’re working with, and we’ll search our team for the most suitable translator for you!
We can make your Shuar translation wishes come true. If you’re ready to get started, send us a message today!